Photos deleted for years on iPhone may come back due to a bug

Last week, Apple released iOS 17.5, bringing with it one of the weirdest issues ever: users reported that deleted photos on their iPhones and iPads suddenly reappeared. While Apple declined to comment publicly on the matter, it released iOS and iPadOS 17.5.1 updates Monday afternoon to address the issue.

An unexpected bug and privacy concerns

The Update release notes they explain that “This update provides important bug fixes and resolves a rare issue where photos that had suffered database corruption could reappear in the Photos library even if they had been deleted.” This bug raised serious privacy concerns, especially considering that some of the resurfaced photos were extremely personal. In one case, a user discovered that deleted photos had reappeared on an iPad that had been deleted and sold to someone else.

Although the update was released quickly, questions remain about how many users were actually affected, what images might reappear and what to do in the case of devices no longer under the user’s control. This problem is made worse by the fact that, on iOS, deleted photos technically remain in the “Recently Deleted” folder for 30 days before finally disappearing. However, the appearance of photos deleted years ago indicates a deeper problem in data management.

Apple’s silence and request for transparency

Apple’s silence on this issue doesn’t help to reassure users. So far, the company has not provided detailed explanations as to why this bug occurred, nor has it clearly communicated what measures have been taken to fix it and prevent future similar incidents. Some users have also reported problems with deleted voicemails reappearing, raising further questions about the security of data on Apple devices.

Apple has always promised one strong privacy protection in its products, boasting software that keeps user data encrypted and secure. However, the lack of clear communication on such a critical issue calls these claims into question. Even though the iOS 17.5.1 update fixes the bug, users want to know what caused the problem, how it was fixed, and what Apple will do to ensure it doesn’t happen again.